Sinlung

13 January 2021

Manipur bans poultry from other states in light of bird flu

The ban comes into force with immediate effect and will remain in force until further orders, said the government.

PUBLISHED ON JAN 13, 2021 10:21 AM IST

The Manipur government has imposed a “temporary ban on entry of poultry and poultry products such as eggs, meat and live birds including ducks, guinea fowls, turkey and quails” to the state in the wake of growing cases of bird flu in the country.

The Commissioner (Veterinary and animal husbandry) H Gyan Prakash of the government of Manipur issued an order in this regard on January 11.

The order stated that the ban has been imposed as a precautionary measure through all the National Highways connecting the state and at the airport in the interest of preventing escalation of the disease in Manipur and other north eastern states.

The disease is said to be highly contagious avian disease having zoonotic potential of causing huge loss in terms of mortality and trade of poultry, according to the order.

“The Deputy Commissioners, District Superintendents of police and District Veterinary officers of the border districts shall take all necessary steps to stop the movement of birds and eggs mentioned above,” says the order.

“The Director Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, Manipur shall take immediate steps for active targeted surveillance against the disease,” it added.

The ban comes into force with immediate effect and will remain in force until further orders, it further added.

Last week, the Centre had asked the states that are still unaffected by the bird flu to keep a vigil and to report any unusual mortality among birds immediately.

It may be worth mentioning here that Manipur was once hit by avian influenza (Bird flu)in July 2007 and April 2015.

Bird flu in domestic and wild birds has been reported in many countries since it was first identified in Hong Kong in 1997, according to reports.

Manipur

Manipur 4th state to complete urban local bodies reform

Earlier, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh had successfully completed urban local bodies reform reforms.
These three states have been granted additional borrowing permission of ₹7,406 crores.

Manipur has become the fourth state in the country to successfully undertake 'Urban Local Bodies (ULB)' reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

The state is now eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of ₹75 crore through open market borrowings. Permission for the same was issued by the Department of Expenditure on Tuesday.

Cape Clean - India's Top Facade and Window Cleaning

Northeast

Israel appoints Honorary Consul in Northeast India

The Embassy of Israel in India has appointed Joyshree Das Verma as Honorary Consul in the region with jurisdiction over the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim, an Embassy statement said.

As part of efforts to increase its presence and collaborations in India’s Northeast, Israel has appointed an Honorary Consul in the region who will be based in Assam.

Cape Clean - India's Top Facade and Window Cleaning

Manipur

28 November 2020

Migratory Route of Amur Falcon

Migratory route of an Amur Falcon named Chiulan.

It was tagged in Manipur, India.

It returned to place of tagging after completing one full cycle of its migratory route, somewhere around 29,000 km.

India

India in Recession From Today

This will mark the first time in India's history that it plunges into recession

By K. Sunil Thomas

It is an oft-bandied about statement that India is in 'recession'. Especially so in the last couple of years of economic slowdown. However, it will be officially true from today, when the government announces the July to September Q2 GDP figures. Expectations are that the economy will contract, though it will be on much better footing than the nearly 24 per cent decline in the first quarter (April to June).

Though periods of economy stagnation often get billed as 'recession', officially, a nation is said be in recession only if it has two consecutive quarters of GDP decline.

Going by that yardstick, the official announcement of Q2 figures, expected on Friday, will mark the first time in India's history that it plunges into recession.

Estimates by various agencies have put Indian economy declining anywhere from 8.6 per cent to 11 per cent or more. As for the whole year (financial year 2020-21), India's economy will decline by 9.5 per cent, as per the estimate of the RBI.

An article in RBI's monthly bulletin released last fortnight had put the Q2 drop at 8.6 per cent. “India has entered a technical recession in the first half of 2020-21 for the first time in its history with Q2 likely to record the second successive quarter of GDP contraction,” says Pankaj Kumar from RBI's Monetary Policy Department in the article, though he reassures that the decline will be "short-lived".

Different agencies have forecast different figures, all around minus 10 per cent, for the contraction of economy in Q2. While Bank of America's estimate is the most hopeful at -7.5, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) being cautious at -12.7. Other major estimates range from State Bank of India's -10.7, ICRA's -9.5 and Barclay's -8.5.

Indian economy was in a 'slowdown' and not recession through the downturn of 2018 and '19, dropping from a growth rate of 5.2 down to 3 per cent in the January-March quarter of this year, just as coronavirus hit. The nationwide lockdown announced at the end of March and remained in place in various forms into June ensured that the first quarter of financial year 2020-21 saw the GDP deep-diving to 23.9 per cent.

However for Q2 (July to September), the re-starting of economic activities, the pent-up demand and the festive season rush has definitely seen things looking up. The purchasing managers indices for manufacturing and services had improved, while exports also finally came back on the growth path. In fact, the uptick in indices was so much that SBI actually revised its forecast from 12.5 per cent de-growth to just 10.7 earlier this month. Agriculture, fisheries etc have been a bright spot, doing well throughout these troubled months, almost like a ray of life amidst dark clouds.

Yet, it may not be enough to save India from the inevitable tag of 'recession'. It is also expected to fare the worst among all major global economies as far as recovery goes. How well Q2 has been for India will be known when the National Statistical Office releases the GDP data today.

Nagaland

27 November 2020

Villagers Dig Out Diamond-like Stones in Nagaland

By BHADRA GOGOI

DIMAPUR, Nov 26 - An area at Wanching village in Mon district of Nagaland bordering Myanmar may have deposits of diamond, throwing up “glittering” prospects.

A video showing hundreds of villagers digging a small hill in the village to unearth “diamond” went viral today. The villagers reportedly dug out diamond-like stones from the hill.

According to sources in Mon, the villagers are camping in the area and trying to dig out the precious metal. However, the quantity and quality of the stones found in the area could not be confirmed immediately.

“Reports apparently of #Diamond found in #Wanching village #Mon district #Nagaland,” Director General (Prisons and Jails) of Nagaland Police Rupin Sharma, who was also the State DGP, tweeted today.

Meanwhile, Mon Deputy Commissioner Thavaseelan K told this correspondent over phone that some stones have been found in the village area. He said it was still not known whether these stones are diamond or any other metal.

He added that the Nagaland Geology and Mining Department is sending a team to study the stones. “It can be confirmed whether these stones are diamond or any other crystal metal only after the team finds out what exactly they are,” the DC said. According to an Indo-German study published in the journal, Current Science, the “ophiolite” rocks of Nagaland – that is a part of the Indo-Myanmar ranges – may potentially hold “microdiamonds” – diamonds of small size, less than one millimetre.

Indications of occurrence of “microdiamonds” have come from the presence of a manganese-bearing mineral called “manganilmenite” in the ophiolite rocks in the Pokphur area of Nagaland, authors of the study – Bibhuranjan Nayak of the CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology in Bhubaneswar, and Franz Michael Meyer of the Aachen University in Germany – said.

India

India Has Highest Bribery Rate in Asia

NEW DELHI, Nov 27: India has the highest bribery rate in Asia and the most number of people who use personal connections to access public services, according to a new report by corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) Asia, found that nearly 50 per cent of those who paid bribes were asked to, while 32 per cent of those who used personal connections said they would not receive the service otherwise.

The report is based upon the survey which was conducted between June 17 and July 17 this year in India with a sample size of 2,000.

“With the highest bribery rate (39 per cent) in the region, India also has the highest rate of people using personal connections to access public services (46 per cent),” the report said.

Bribery in public services continues to plague India. Slow and complicated bureaucratic process, unnecessary red tape and unclear regulatory frameworks force citizens to seek out alternate solutions to access basic services through networks of familiarity and petty corruption, the report said.

“Both national and State governments need to streamline administrative processes for public services, implement preventative measures to combat bribery and nepotism, and invest in user-friendly online platforms to deliver essential public services quickly and effectively,” the report said.

Although reporting cases of corruption is critical to curbing the spread, a majority of citizens in India (63 per cent) think that if they report corruption, they will suffer retaliation, it said.

In India, 89 per cent think government corruption is a big problem, 18 per cent offered bribes in exchange for votes.

About 63 per cent of surveyed people think the government is doing well in tackling corruption while 73 per cent said their anti-corruption agency is doing well in the fight against corruption, it said.

Based on fieldwork conducted in 17 countries, the GCB surveyed nearly 20,000 citizens in total.

Cape Clean - India's Top Facade and Window Cleaning

Manipur

Myanmar hands over 34 Indians to Manipur

The Indian nationals were handed over to authorities in Manipur at the Moreh border town in Tengnoupal district of Manipur.

Nov 27, 2020: Most of the deported individuals were from Manipur, one each from Tripura, Mizoram and UP.

As many as 34 Indian nationals who have been serving jail term in Myanmar in different cases was deported to India by Myanmar Government on Thursday.

The Indian nationals were handed over to authorities in Manipur at the Moreh border town in Tengnoupal district of Manipur. Moreh is situated at the Indo-Myanmar border 110 km from Imphal. Most of the deported individuals were from Manipur, one each from Tripura, Mizoram and UP.

Yengkhom Rashni, deputy secretary Home, Government of Manipur said that the state Government is felicitating the handing and receiving of the deported individuals. All the deportation was necessitated through diplomatic channel by the Ministry, she said.

“Most of them were arrested for travelling beyond the free movement regime without proper documents”, said Rashni.

The Indian nationals were received at Indo-Myanmar friendship bridge by a team comprising of Immigration officers, staff of custom department and ICP and a team of Moreh police.

A medical team of Tengnoupal district surveillance officer conducted COVID-19 screening to all the 34 Indian nationals at Integrated check post (ICP) Moreh. Later, the Moreh police transported them to the Moreh police station. They are to be handed over to their respective family members.

Meanwhile, the Indian Government also deported as many as 28 Myanmar nationals and handed them over to Myanmar authorities on Thursday at the same border point, said the deputy secretary Home. The Myanmar nationals were arrested and detained from different places of India. It is learnt that eight are transported from Nagaland, 19 are from Assam and 1 from Mizoram.